Food Safety Standard

Guidance Note-Milk Products

Introduction:

India has a rich tradition of sweets with a variety of taste, texture and ingredients. Traditional milk-based sweets are generally prepared from khoya, chhena, sugar and other ingredients such as maida, flavours and colours e.g. peda, burfi, milk cake, gulab jamun, rasgulla, rasmalai etc. In addition there are sweets containing cereal, starch or grain as the main ingredient e.g. suji halwa, moong dal halwa, jalebi, boondi laddoo, motichoor laddoo, gujiya, balusahi, soan-papdi etc. There are also sweet snacks e.g. chikki, gajak, murrunda, gudchana coated with jaggery, sugar, honey and other ingredients.

Sweets have limited shelf life. Sweets particularly those with milk products have lesser shelf life (1-4 days) and are more prone to microbial growth. Therefore sanitation and hygiene in their preparation and consumption within shelf life is of utmost importance. Moreover, there are issues of adulteration and use of sub-standard products. Concerted efforts are needed to ensure food safety of sweets by stakeholders including food business, consumers and regulatory authorities.

Challenges in Traditional sweets:

There are a number of issues faced in manufacture and sale of sweets. People involved in manufacture lack adequate knowledge of regulatory compliances and good hygienic practices. The packaging and labelling requirements are often neglected. Moreover there are certain issues like use of non-permitted colour, flavour or other ingredients; use of Raw Materials of poor quality for sweet manufacturing; repeated use of oil in cooking/preparation leading to increased level of trans fat which need to addressed.

Milk Product Survey:

FSSAI had a pilot scale survey of milk products to ascertain the quality and safety of milk products sold in and around Delhi between 15th October and 7th November 2019 coinciding with the festival season. Samples were drawn from 11 districts in multiple locations across Delhi-NCR. During the survey a total of 1041 samples (438 packed & 603 loose milk products) including khoya, paneer, ghee and milk based sweets such as khoya burfi and chenna, chenna rasgulla were taken and tested at National Food Laboratory, Ghaziabad. For the first time. surveillance also focused on microbiological parameters that included process hygiene and pathogens.

The survey reveals the trend that milk product samples do not have safety issues in both chemical and microbiological analysis. The samples were found to have predominantly quality and hygiene issues with more incidences in loose samples as compared to packed ones.

Guidance for Food Businesses:

The general hygiene and sanitary requirements as specified under Schedule IV of FSS (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations 2011 should be scrupulously complied with.
In case of pre-packaged milk products, the list of ingredients and the date of manufacturing and best before or use by date should invariably be mentioned as prescribed under the FSS
(Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011.
In case of non-packaged/loose sweets, the container/tray holding the items at the outlet should display the following information:
- Best before or use by date.
- Whether Oil/ghee/Vanaspati used
The record of source of dairy based products should be maintained.
FSSAI License/Registration should be prominently displayed at the unit.
Use of non permitted colors and repeated use of oil should be avoided.
For sale of savouries, sweets or other articles of food, the notice board should indicate whether articles which have been cooked in ghee, edible oil, vanaspati and other fats for the information of the consumers.
Training and capacity building of the manufacturers will help in the basic understanding of hygiene, sanitation, handling and storage. They may get training under Food Safety Training and Certification (FoSTaC) programme of FSSAI.
Get the samples tested from NABL accredited FSSAI notified laboratories at regular invervals and display the same on display boards at their respective outlets.

Guidance for Consumers:

First approach for a consumer to prevent an encounter of any adulterated product is to avoid purchase of loose products, as the probability of adulteration increases. The right flavour, body and texture, colour and appearance of milk products determine the quality and freshness of the milk product. Table below gives flavour, body, texture ,colour and appearance of some sweets and other milk products.

Consumer Grievance Redressal:

FSSAI has various interfaces where consumers can register their grievances. These interfaces are listed below:

e-mail – compliance@fssai.gov.in
Whatsapp – 9868686868
Facebook Page – FSSAI
Twitter – @fssaiindia
FSSAI concern web portal –Food Safety Connect https://foodlicensing.fssai.gov.in/cmsweb/
Toll- Free No. –1800112100
Application – Food Safety Connect (android)

Guidance for Food Safety Regulatory Authorities:

Food Safety Commissioners of States/UTs should ensure compliance and food safety for milk products. Special drive should be conducted frequently to ensure freshness and quality of sweets sold in retails including sweets shops, halwai shops etc.

Surveillance activities should be undertaken regularly, and the data so obtained should be analysed to identify the hot spots which should be intensely targeted. There should be intensive surveillance during festive seasons when demand of milk and milk products increase.
Regular inspections should be carried out to ensure that FBO is maintaining food safety and hygiene as per Schedule 4 requirements given in as per Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011 and meeting other regulatory requirements.
A vigil should be maintained on sweet shops to eliminate the chances of adulteration particularly in milk products. In case any violation is found, stringent action should be taken as per the provisions of FSS Act, 2006 and Rules/Regulations made there under.
Generate local intelligence regarding the malpractices. The supervising officer must take action to ensure neutrality
Consumer awareness programme should be conducted to apprise consumers about common malpractices, train them in performing quick tests, inform about avenues to file their grievances